The Lock

She wanders around A lock in her hands
"Do you have the key?", She quietly demands
She searches the world Trying to find
The key that might fit A lock of her kind
A couple of times A few keys are forced
And from her lock to her heart A pain starts to course
But she keeps on her search Trying to find
The key that might fit A lock of her kind
Sometimes she stumbles Back to a guy
Who forces and fumbles But she's already tried
And still she keeps searching Trying to find
The key that might fit A lock of her kind
And once in a while She meets a man
With the skills of a locksmith Who can unlock with his hands
But this is illusion And the pain it still coursed
Ever still deeper Than those that had forced
On goes the search Trying to find
The key that might fit A lock of her kind
One day she finds A key- and it fits
But that key it broke off And there did it sit
And the lock wouldn't open And she lived with the pain
While the key stuck inside Filled her with disdain
So she gives up the search Of trying to find
The key that might fit A lock of her kind
Then one day The key... it's not there
But she still feels the pain So she handles with care
The lock that's so damaged Through to her core
She wonders if she could take Any keys anymore
So she patiently guards Wary to find
Another key that might fit A lock of her kind

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Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”